Town of Rosendale may clear snow from sidewalks on storm-by-storm basis

ROSENDALE, N.Y. -- Town Supervisor Jeanne Walsh said decisions about the town removing snow from sidewalks will be made on a storm-by-storm basis.

The policy was discussed during a Town Board meeting last week, when Walsh said the responsibility for clearing sidewalks will remain with property owners, but recent accumulation led to a shortage of locations to dispose of shoveled snow.

"Once you've got an icy situation I didn't feel it was a safe situation and that's why I went forward," she said.

"I think what's happening is people are making paths," Walsh said. "It's not a safe environment for commercial use because it's not just the person who uses the house in front of their home. You have people going back and forth to go to restaurants and there's a lot more traffic walking back and forth on Main Street than there is on James Street."

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Walsh added that state Department of Transportation snow plows would send snow back onto the Main Street sidewalks.

"Once it started to melt and freeze ... it was pretty difficult for people after that for people to go back out there and chop it away once it was frozen," she said.

"They are supposed to shovel their own sidewalks, but there has been a precedent in the past when there's more snow than the residents can handle that (town Highway Department crews) come in and clean it up," she said.

Building owners are supposed to take snow entirely away from the sidewalk but officials noted that some locations cannot be easily accessed.

"Some of them had wheelbarrows and the wheelbarrows started to bog down," Town Clerk Joan Jordan said. "Some of them don't have access between their buildings. So they have to go around and they begin encroaching on other people's property."